The Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth Award 2022 Awardee: John Pittari, Jr.
March 22, 2022
CT NOFA was proud to award John Pittari, Jr. the annual Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth Award during the 40th Winter Conference this February. This award is given annually to an individual or organization who has worked to advance organic living on our earth and supports the continuation of the life work of Bill Duesing. We continue to cherish the legacy of our founder through this annual celebration of his many contributions. Please share this news with your network to spread the word about the Bill Duesing award and Bill Duesing’s legacy. We hope to inspire a new generation of environmental stewards and to continue the unfinished work of our founder.
2022 Awardee, John Pittari, Jr.
Selecting John Pittari as the recipient of the Bill Duesing Living on the Earth Award exemplifies the spirit and substance of the award itself. Before he died four years ago, Bill expressed his fervent wish that the movement to which he dedicated his adult life be carried on by his colleagues. John fulfills that mandate every day!
John and Bill go way back to the origins of the organic movement locally, statewide and even nationally! He and Bill were truly pioneers in promoting healthier living through sustainably grown foods. With his family, John opened New Morning Market more than 50 years ago in an old house on Main Street in Southbury. It was a wonderful place to shop. He was always present in the store to answer his patrons’ questions and promote local, organic agriculture. John and his family have advanced the economic, social, and ecological durability of organic farms in Connecticut by providing a friendly, humane, respectful, and mutually beneficial working
partnership between farmers and their markets. New Morning Market provides the public with organic food and other products from organic farms, many of them local, and has done so for more than half a century! This fulfills one of Bill’s major goals for the movement.
John has deservedly received many awards over the years for his contributions to the growth of an organic lifestyle. He has been a generous contributor to CT NOFA and currently serves as the Board’s Co-Vice President. New Morning Market’s mission statement clearly describes John’s commitment to the continuation of Bill’s life work. He is the perfect recipient of this award!
About the Bill Duesing
Bill founded CT NOFA: The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, Inc. in 1982, and when he announced that he’s facing the last moments of his life, he said, “I trust my colleagues in this mission will continue their efforts to realize a sustainable and joyful future for all”. Unfortunately, Bill moved on to greener pastures on July 12, 2018. While he lived a long and wonderful life with his family, we feel that he simply left us too soon!
In his honor, Bill’s many friends have joined with CT NOFA to carry on his legacy through the creation of “The Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth Award”.
Bill’s passion for conservation, organic farming and land care, activism and advocacy, and education can be seen throughout Connecticut in his life’s work. From the expansion of organic farms and landscapers to the founding of CT NOFA and Common Ground High School to the legislative efforts that led to tangible results on the environment, we would like to honor Bill by continuing unfinished work through education and advocacy.
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Advocacy News: May 2026
The Good News: CT Senator Chris Murphy has introduced a bill (bipartisan and bicameral) to increase funding for Agricultural Management Assistance to $30 million and to expand the eligible uses for these funds to include “soil health improvements, composting, implementing organic farming, and food safety certification in addition to existing authorized uses such as water management structure and soil erosion control.” Let’s thank Senator Murphy for introducing this bill!
The Bad News: The Farm Bill passed the House of Representatives on April 30, despite 320 food, farm, and conservation organizations, including CT NOFA, voicing our opposition to a bill that does not fix SNAP, does not support new and beginning farmers, and does not adequately support conservation programs or organic agriculture. Now it goes to the Senate and we need to urge both of Connecticut’s Senators to reject this Farm Bill.
Our Vision for a Future of Resilient, Plentiful, Healthy and Locally-Grounded Farming and Food
In concluding its annual retreat, the Northeast Organic Farming Association Interstate Council (NOFA IC) reaffirms the values that have grounded our work for 55 years.
Our vision is that every person is able to live their life with healthy food, clean water and air, community, livelihood, dignity, and purpose within the means of our life-giving planet. We seek that vision on every level, from our households and farms to our communities, states, bioregions, nation, and world. For that vision to be fulfilled, every person, no matter their origin or circumstances, must have all their basic human needs met without degrading the air, water, soil, ecosystems, and climate which we have been given and on which we depend for our lives.